


Far From the Madding Crowd

by cordeliadelayne



Series: The Parker-Ryans [1]
Category: Primeval
Genre: Action/Adventure, Drama, F/M, Getting Together, Kissing, Original Character Injury, Through an Anomaly, Trapped
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:48:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22408972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cordeliadelayne/pseuds/cordeliadelayne
Summary: Prospero want everyone involved in the anomaly project to have experience in the field. It goes about as well as expected.
Relationships: Jess Parker/Tom Ryan (Primeval)
Series: The Parker-Ryans [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2152029
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Far From the Madding Crowd

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fififolle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fififolle/gifts).



> Written as a Christmas present for the lovely fififolle who gave the prompt “snap, crackle and pop”

**Snap**

Ryan hadn't even been sure that Jess owned any sensible shoes, never mind sensible outfit and backpack to go with it, but here she was wearing walking boots and trousers and a waterproof jacket with a bright fluorescent backpack slung over one shoulder.

Her hair was tied back in a plait and all she really needed was a gun in her hand to look just as smart as Sgt. Sarfaz who was joining them on this milk run.

“Prospero have a lot to answer for,” Ryan said.

“It's not a bad idea, having everyone go through an anomaly,” Abby told him.

“Hmm,” Ryan said, still clearly not happy.

“Jess'll be fine.”

“Hmm,” Ryan responded again and Abby rolled her eyes.

“Well?” Jess asked, walking up to them. “What do you think?”

“You'll do,” Ryan said, a little harsher than he meant and Jess' smile faltered.

“The anomaly will be open in 45 minutes, sir,” Sarfaz said. “We should get going.”

Ryan nodded to her and ignoring both Jess and Abby moved towards the truck. He still had the faintest of limps from his time in the Permian and it was only now, after years of physiotherapy and a large helping of stubbornness that he felt confident that that slight impairment wasn't going to harm the team. But Jess. Jess was a complication he could do well without.

* * * * *

Things went downhill pretty much straight away which surprised absolutely no one. They'd stepped through the anomaly only to find themselves not in the Permian as Connor had predicted but in the Jurassic right into the middle of a herd of bloody great big apatosauruses. Not carnivorous, but that doesn't really matter when you're about to get stomped on.

Sarfaz had gone one way, he and Jess the other and the anomaly had blinked out of existence before either of them could make any kind of decent retreat.

To Jess' credit she had remained silent and stuck close to Ryan, following every order quickly and without any outward signs of panicking except for the slight tremble of her hands that she tried to hide from Ryan. It occurred to him that she was afraid of what he would say if she confessed to be afraid and he cursed his earlier attitude; she was a civilian with no field training, he didn't expect her to compartmentalise like the rest of them.

Slightly out of breath he motioned for Jess to come closer and hide under an outcropping just out of sight of the herd and not far from where the anomaly had opened. Connor's calculations had it remaining open for at least twelve hours but for the moment staying nearby in the hope that it would reopen was the only option they had.

“How are you feeling?” Ryan asked.

“I'm okay,” Jess said, giving him a small smile.

Ryan put his hand over Jess' and squeezed it, once, quickly, before turning his back on her. “We'll be fine. Sarfaz and I both have supplies to last a couple of days if needs be. You should drink some water.”

Jess did as she was told, bringing out a bright purple drinking bottle from her own bag and taking a few careful sips.

Ryan concentrated on his radio and not Jess' lips. “Sarfaz, do you copy?”

There was a long beat of silence filled only by Jess replacing her drinking bottle in her bag.

“Sarfaz, report.”

“Sarfaz here.” Her light Scottish accent seemed strained and Ryan adjusted his position, eyes scanning the horizon for trouble. “I'm going to need medical assistance.”

“Shit,” Ryan muttered to himself. “Where are you?”

“Three clicks north of the anomaly.”

“We're on our way,” Ryan told her. He couldn't risk leaving Jess here on her own, even if this did seem like a safe place and when he turned to tell her this he found her nodding to his unspoken assessment and getting herself ready to move.

“Stay low, and by my side. Understood?”

“Got it,” Jess replied. Ryan noticed her hands were no longer shaking but his own heart beat was a touch too fast to be purely adrenaline. He decided the only option was to avoid thinking about both.

* * * * *

A broken femur was Ryan's expert assessment as Sarfaz sat up across the inside of a damp cave that was too far away from the anomaly site for Ryan's liking but the only place the circling birds overhead didn't seem interested in. Cutter and Stephen would probably tell him they weren't birds at all, but right now he gave even less of a fuck than usual. It was three hours in and there was no sign of the anomaly reopening and Jess' quiet competence was proving to be a dangerous distraction.

“Sorry, boss,” Sarfaz said, pushing a stray bit of hair away from her face, “zigged when I should have zagged.”

Ryan smiled at her. “Not to worry. You can make it up to me when we get back.”

Sarfaz groaned, knowing that she was going to have a lot of scientist wrangling duty to do before she was fit to get back into the field.

“Do you think it's safe enough for a fire?” Jess asked. She was crouched nearby, doing an inventory of their provisions for Ryan and writing it down in surprisingly neat handwriting.

Ryan looked out at the landscape trying to find an answer in the lengthening shadows. “I don't want to risk it just yet,” he decided. “Are you cold?”

“I'm fine,” Jess said. “Really.” For emphasis she lay one of their blankets over Sarfaz's shoulders. “I'm not the one who needs to keep warm.”

Ryan couldn't tell if this was genuine concern or a rebuke but trying to work it out would require paying Jess more attention and he really didn't think that was a good idea.

**Crackle**

The three of them huddled up in the cave, Jess and Ryan ether side of Sarfaz with a couple of blankets laid out across their legs. They'd entertained themselves with tales of past missions and an increasingly ridiculous version of I-Spy.

Ryan was finding out there was much more to Jess than met the eye as she and Sarfaz debated the best way of improving the ARC's security systems. It turned out that Jess had more IT qualifications than you could shake a stick at and may or not have done some moderate hacking in her youth.

“You should talk to Lester,” Sarfaz was saying to Ryan, drawing him back to the present, “see if he can get Burton to up the IT budget. Jess is right, the whole system needs a proper upgrade.”

“I don't know, Mina,” Jess said, “Lester wasn't happy the last time I brought it up.”

“Lester's never happy,” Sarfaz replied. “But Ryan can be very persuasive, can't you boss?”

Ryan silently handed Sarfaz a bottle of water and fidgeted under her assessing gaze. The problem with only recruiting from the best was that they were all bloody mind readers.

“I could write a report?" Jess suggested, a little hesitatingly. Ryan nodded sharply and then continued to look out of the cave trying to work out where they were by the stars.

“Okay, I'll do that then,” Jess said.

Ryan ignored the sound of disappointment in her voice and the sharp elbow Sarfaz poked into his side. This was neither the time nor the place.

The uncomfortable silence was broken by the crackling sound they'd all come to associate with an anomaly getting ready to open.

Ryan was on his feet first, followed quickly by Jess who grabbed their bags without being asked and had Sarfaz up and on her feet before Ryan had reached the cave's entrance. If he wasn't careful Jess' efficiency might start getting to him.

“Hang tight while I scout for predators,” Ryan instructed, moving out fast and low. Since so far all of Connor's predictions about this particular anomaly had been wrong they had no way of knowing if it would open fully and if it did how long for; he wouldn't be responsible for any more deaths on his watch if he could help it.

The anomaly suddenly pulsed into full strength and several small lizard like creatures danced over Ryan's feet to get away. He did not flinch but it was a damn close thing and he was glad that Jess hadn't been there to see it. It had only just occurred to him to start worrying about spiders.

A familiar mop of brown hair appeared followed by one of Ryan's soldiers. “Should be steady for another hour now,” Stephen said, spotting Ryan with unerring accuracy. “But best not to take any chances.”

Ryan nodded. “Sarfaz has a broken leg. We'll need some help.”

“Med Team's standing by, I'll have them come over. Any signs of life?”

“Not so far. But the way our luck's going....”

There was a loud roar that sounded far too close for comfort.

“Forget the Med Team, sir,” Sarfaz said. “I'll bloody run if I have to.”

Ryan turned to find that she and Jess had managed to get down from the cave entrance by themselves and were now hobbling towards the anomaly. Ryan silently cursed their stubbornness but couldn't fault their willingness to get the hell out of dodge.

“Come on, then,” he said, and with Stephen covering them with Ryan's gun they made it through the anomaly with only a few minutes to spare as it suddenly winked out of existence again.

Ryan and Stephen looked at each other for a moment and then over at a sheepish looking Connor.

“I did say up to an hour.”

Ryan decided not to shoot him. But it was a very close call.

**Pop**

The security and military teams at the ARC were very much of the play hard work hard philosophy and while Ryan usually left them to it, provided none of them were about to be deployed, he found himself paying close attention as Sarfaz regaled them with tales of their adventures from her hospital bed as champagne corks popped around him.

He couldn't imagine that they came from any budget that Lester was responsible for, but he knew when to turn a blind eye and accepted a glass from Jess without any questions.

“You did good out there,” he told her. He was deliberately looking forward and trying to avoid her eyes but he could sense her straightening up and the soft flush of colour to her cheeks.

“Really?” she asked. “I wasn't sure. It wasn't really what I was expecting. Though I don't know what I was expecting really. Connor and Abby had told me and I've read all the old reports and I'm sorry I'm rambling.”

She came to an abrupt stop and bit her lower lip. Ryan decided paying attention to that would not be productive.

“It can be a culture shock,” Ryan agreed. “Just the idea of them...” He sighed. “It still takes a lot of getting used to.”

Jess nodded and Ryan took a sip of his champagne. He wondered if these sorts of things were easier to navigate when he was younger or if he was just imagining it.

“I don't think I could do what you do,” Jess said, suddenly. “Being responsibly for all those lives.”

“You're responsible for our lives every day,” Ryan said without thinking. “Getting us where we need to be, making sure the right equipment is available. We couldn't do it without you.”

Jess opened her mouth in surprise before turning away, her face a decidedly redder shade than before. Ryan wondered if it had heated up too and moved her head towards him his fingers just a fleeting touch against her cheek and chin.

She was young, he couldn't deny, but not naïve and there was a wisdom in her eyes that he'd failed to acknowledged before.

He realised he was breathing fast, the sounds of the people around him laughing and shouting drowned out by the sudden certainty that this was something he could have instead of just idly wanting.

Jess started to smile and then reached up and pulled him into a searing kiss that startled the breath out of him.

She retreated almost as quickly and finished the rest of her champagne in one long gulp.

“Dutch courage?” Ryan asked, not really sure what he was saying.

For answer Jess nodded sharply and then stalked towards him with her mind evidently made up and pushed him into the corner where the edge of the table pushed into his ribs. He couldn't find it in himself to care.

Jess kissed like she did everything, with an efficiency and heart that was hard to match. But Ryan was going to give it a damn could try, pulling her flush against him, his hands skimming down her back and suddenly wishing for the first time today that she was wearing one of her usual skirts.

“Next time,” Jess said, nipping at Ryan's chin, her fingers brushing against the stubble she found there.

It was almost more threat than promise and Ryan's body suddenly felt on fire.

“But first,” Jess said, stepping back and rearranging her shirt, “you need to report to Lester for a debrief.”

“You're joking.”

“I never joke about proper procedures,” she replied with a cheeky grin. “But I do know one thing.” She leaned forward, her breath ghosting against Ryan's cheek. “The sooner you get moving, the sooner you get to see the inside of my bedroom.”

Ryan chanced a glance over at Sarfaz who was giving Jess a none too subtle thumbs up. Their friendship was definitely going to be a problem.

But right now Ryan had much more important things on his mind and his only thought was to will his erection down long enough to get out of the building as quickly as possible.

Thinking about Lester definitely helped.


End file.
